This application claims the benefit of the Korean Application Nos. P2002-21030 filed on Apr. 17, 2002, and P2002-24813 filed on May 6, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispenser for dispensing water or ice cubes to a cup inserted thereto, and a refrigerator fitted with the same in an outside surface thereof.
2. Background of the Related Art
The refrigerator is an appliance for fresh, and long time storage of food. The refrigerator is provided with a food storage therein, which is always kept at a low temperature by means of a refrigerating cycle for maintaining a fresh state of the food. For cooling down the food storage, the refrigerator is provided with a compressor for compressing and circulating refrigerant, a condenser for condensing compressed refrigerant into liquid phase refrigerant, a heat exchanger for vaporizing the condensed refrigerant to absorb heat from an inside of the food storage, a fan for blowing cold air around the heat exchanger to the inside of the food storage, and refrigerant tubes for connecting the compressor, the condenser and the heat exchanger.
In the meantime, the refrigerator is also provided with a door for opening closing the food storage at one side thereof, for an example, in a front surface thereof. Accordingly, it is necessary for a user to open the door for storage of food or taking out stored food. When the door is opened, the cold air flows from the food storage to an exterior, and warm air flows from the exterior to the food storage, leading to raise a temperature of the food storage. Once the temperature of the food storage is raised, the compressor comes into operation to circulate the refrigerant and cool down the food storage to a low temperature again. If opening of the door is frequent, operation periods of various components thereof starting from the compressor and the fan, become longer, and much power is consumed. Moreover, a temperature variation of the food storage becomes greater to drop freshness of the food stored therein.
Referring to FIG. 1, recently for solving this problem, even a little, refrigerators with dispensers 3 is provided for dispensing water or ice cubes from an outside of the refrigerator without opening the door 2. The dispenser 3 is provided to one side of the refrigerator, such as an outside surface of door 2, which will be described, briefly.
There is a cup receiving space 3c recessed from an outside surface of the door 2 having a water dispensing lever 3a and an ice dispensing lever 3b. Inside of the door 2, there are a water tank and an ice maker (not shown) for dispensing water or ice cubes when the cup is pushed in, to move the water dispensing lever 3a or the ice dispensing lever 3b.
When the refrigerator fitted with the dispenser 3 is provided, since the user can be take water or ice cubes without opening the door 2, the refrigerator is not only convenient, but also reduce power consumption.
However, the present refrigerator fitted with a dispenser has a disadvantage in that a level of water or ice cubes dispensed to the cup put into the cup receiving space can not be known. That is, in general, since user""s eyes are positioned higher than the dispenser 3 with reference to a floor, if the user puts the cup into the cup receiving space, a user view is shaded by an upper front part of the dispenser 3, to fail watching an inside of the cup.
Therefore, in order to prevent water or ice cubes from overflowing, there is an inconvenience in that the user is required to bend his neck or back forward for watching the level of water or ice cubes dispensed to the cup.
Moreover, the failure in watching the level of the water or ice cubes dispensed to the cup frequently causes overflow of the ice cubes or the water.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a dispenser and a refrigerator fitted with the same that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser and a refrigerator fitted with the same, in which an upper front part of the dispenser is improved for easy watching of a level of the water or ice cubes dispensed to a cup.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the dispenser includes a dispenser casing having a cup receiving space recessed from an outside surface of one side of a refrigerator, and view securing means provided in an upper front part for identifying a water level of a cup when a user looks down the cup receiving space from an upper front side, at least one lever fitted to the cup receiving space, and a dispensing device built-in the refrigerator for cold, or frozen storage of water supplied from outside of the refrigerator, and supplying the water or ice cubes to the cup when the cup presses the lever.
The dispenser casing is provided, for an example, to an outside of a door. The dispenser casing is formed as a body separate from, for an example, the door, or as another example, as one unit with the outside surface of the door.
The view securing means includes an upper front part of the dispenser casing, of, for an example, a transparent material for easy see-through to the cup receiving space from an outside of the dispenser. The upper front part includes a form extended a distance down from, for an example, the outside surface of the refrigerator, and bent backward therefrom.
The view securing means includes a top cover forming an upper part of the dispenser casing extended, for an example, a distance down from the outside surface of the refrigerator and bent backward therefrom, and formed of a transparent material for enabling see-through to the cup receiving space from an outside of the dispenser.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the view securing means includes, for an example, a sloped chamfered surface provided to the upper front part of the dispenser casing. The chamfered surface is a straight sloped surface from upper front side to a lower rear side of the dispenser casing. The chamfered surface is a highly glossy reflective surface for identifying the level of water inside of the cup by means of reflection of a light.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the view securing means further includes, for an example, a mirror attached to the chamfered surface.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.